Religion news in brief, 1/18

the associated press Secretary of State John Kerry talks about Syria on Thursday at the State Department in Washington.

WASHINGTON

Abortion clinic law gets court review

The regulation of protests outside abortion clinics returns to the Supreme Court today for the first time since 2000.

The state of Massachusetts is defending a law that prohibits abortion protests any closer than 35 feet from the entrance to clinics.

Abortion opponents hoping to dissuade women from ending their pregnancies filed suit, saying the law limits their ability to encounter patients arriving for care. But federal courts in Massachusetts have upheld the law as a reasonable imposition on protesters' rights. In 2000, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold a different buffer zone in Colorado.

State officials and clinic employees say the buffer zones make patients and staff feel safer and find it easier to enter abortion clinics.

The Rev. Harry Knox, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, says the law protects women from harassment as they exercise their rights.

But the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, says he prays the Supreme Court will find that the law unconstitutionally suppresses free speech.

TOPEKA, Kan.

ACLU takes issue with state email

The American Civil Liberties Union says an official email sent by a Kansas Corporation Commission employee discussing his religious beliefs may have opened the KCC to legal liability.

Jared Bowes, a KCC media specialist, tried to put a veiled reference to Jesus into the commission's December newsletter, but it was edited out. Bowes then used his state-issued email address to send a message to his colleagues saying "King Jesus" is "the reason for the season."

Doug Bonney, legal director for the ACLU Foundation of Kansas, says while state employees have free speech rights, problems arise when religious statements are made using the state email system.

A commission spokesman declined comment, telling The Topeka Capital-Journal that it was a personnel matter.

VATICAN CITY

Kerry talks peace with papal diplomat

Intrigued by signals of an invigorated papal diplomacy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has enlisted a new ally in his push for Mideast peace.

In a brief visit to the Vatican on Tuesday, Kerry did not meet with Pope Francis but said he had wide-ranging discussions with the pope's chief diplomat.

Kerry is the first American Roman Catholic secretary of state to visit the Vatican since Edmund Muskie more than 30 years ago. He told reporters, "As an altar boy as a young kid, I would never have imagined that I would have been crossing the threshold of the Vatican to meet, as Secretary of State, with the Secretary of State of the Holy See."

Noting that the pope plans to visit the Holy Land in May, Kerry vowed to keep Francis informed on "what progress there may be in the peace process." Kerry said the Vatican also will want to ensure that future agreements guarantee "freedom of access for religious worship in Jerusalem for all religions."